


If I Shall Die Before I Wake (I Accept My Fate)

by ILLEGAILE



Series: RVRA Chronicles [1]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, And by that I mean US, Dystopia, Hunger Games AU, M/M, OT4, Original Characters - Freeform, Polyamory, Polygamy, warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-16
Updated: 2016-05-16
Packaged: 2018-06-08 20:52:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6872890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ILLEGAILE/pseuds/ILLEGAILE
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Max Verstappen was never the prayerful one. He had lied to his parents when he said he prayed before he went to sleep. Now, in the midst of one of the deadliest games in the world, he wishes he could have prayed three times before he stepped onto the platform. </p><p>Once for his sister.<br/>Once for his step-sister.<br/>Once for his step-brother.</p><p>One thing is for sure, they will never say die. Not until they see each other again. After all, Max promised</p>
            </blockquote>





	If I Shall Die Before I Wake (I Accept My Fate)

> _Now I lay me down to sleep,_
> 
> _I pray the Lord my soul to keep,_
> 
> _If I should die before I wake,_
> 
> _I pray the Lord **my soul to take**._
> 
>  
> 
> _-_ Now I lay me down to sleep, **New England Primer Version**

 

Emma wakes that morning with a heavy feeling in her gut. She felt uneasy sometimes when she couldn’t hear Max’s awful loud breathing. Her room is decked out and decadent, somewhat Baroque looking if she had one word to describe it. She feels less at home here than in Max’s room, fighting over the last donut. Not that she’d ever tell her insufferable twin that. She was 15 minutes older no matter what he said.

She checked her calendar on her bedside table and let her shoulders fall, feeling heavier than before. So, that’s what it was. Reaping Day. She had hoped this day would never come, not when the merge between the Ricciardo-Vettel and Raikkonen-Alonso families was starting to feel like the new normal.

Emma took the grand stair case going down two steps at a time and greeting her sister. She was slightly Hispanic with a rounder face than her older brother but the same tanned skin. If there was ever anyone that looked most like a girl in the entire world it would be Gaile. Fernando loved her and doted on her, not as much as Carlos doted on her but still. But, it was Kimi who loved her best in a way that he knew Gaile could take care of herself and teaching her things she didn’t already know. Emma can’t blame them, she’d never needed doting and she herself liked straightening her sister’s hair in the morning.

“Morning.” Fernando (Papa) and Kimi (Isä) greeted. They gestured to the kitchen door, an answer to Emma’s silent question of where is breakfast. Gaile continued to eat in silence, not wanting to wake Carlos who had fallen asleep on his waffles next to her.

Max was already in the kitchen, pressing pancake mix into the waffle-iron was probably the only chore he’d ever do. Sebastian (Vati) kissed her on the forehead and handed her a plate of Blueberry Waffles with mangoes off to the side. “Greet your dad.” He reminded, getting out a pitcher of orange juice.

“Hi dad!” Emma greeted brightly, sticking her tongue out at Max who gave her a frustrated eye-roll. “Ass kissing again, bed wetter?” she cackled behind her waffles.

“Not that you know how to make a waffle, morning breath.”

She swatted him in the arm and went to sit by Gaile who groaned as Carlos started to wake.

“Gaile, I told you to get the blunter knife!” he scolded, taking the knife and cutting up his sister’s waffle for her. “You can’t trust these things. Slippery and dangerous.”

Isä-Kimi snorted. “Your mothering is slippery and dangerous.” This earned him a look from Papa-Nano, signaling for the daily doting to begin. “You have all your things? Your hair ties? Your-”

“Water, Paracord-bracelet, and emergency whistle.” Isä-Kimi and Gaile recited together, punctuating it with a high-five before Gaile shot up from her chair. Carlos took off after her to braid the errant ends of her short bob of black wavy hair with a shout of “slow down or you’ll trip”.

Emma sighed. It looked nice, what Carlos and Gaile had. A loyal enough love for each other that sacrifices everything to make the other happy. She feels that way about Max a lot, not that she lets on. And sometimes, she thought Max would have been sad to see her go too if she were ever reaped.

She shook her head.  _Not today_.

And with that thought, she marched to her room to get dressed.

 

They were gathered in a breezy amphitheater, a ridiculously clown-looking woman droning on about tradition and the Capitol and the games as if they didn’t hear it year after year. The two bowls of names on the stage gleamed under the harsh light of day. The cameras broadcasting the first draw of the year to the other Districts. And finally, the clown-lady announced. “Ladies first.”

From the corner of her eye, she saw Gaile reach out to hold her hand with her free one, the other already taken by Carlos. Max refused to hold hands with anyone but seemed to draw closer to Emma as if to hide any evidence of the girls. Their fathers sucked in a breath as the paper unfurled between two long manicured nails as clown-lady looked straight at Emma. She knew then and pushed Gaile’s hand into Carlos’ chest as she stood up.

“Emma Ricciardo-Vettel.”

A shocked gasp resounded in the amphitheater loud in Emma’s ears as Gaile struggled against Carlos. Her fingers brushed Emma’s arm as her muffled shouts of “ _I volunteer_ ” were hushed by Carlos’ hand. Typical Gaile, it’s a good thing Carlos will always dote on her, Emma thinks as she looks to her gob smacked brother to ruffle his hair one last time. “Keep them out of trouble, okay?”

“I’m sure I won’t” Max murmured but his hands were fisted by his sides knowing if he stood up then Sebastian and Kimi and Daniel and Fernando would all be there to talk him down. Knowing that they couldn’t possibly stop it turned Max’s expression dark.

“You’re a dick.” He gave him one last middle finger and hugged her fathers goodbye, ignoring Gaile’s soft sobs quieted by Carlos’ shirt.

She didn’t hear anything after that. She didn’t notice when people started shouting in outrage as Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton’s child, Pascal, would be with her in the arena. She didn’t notice getting on the train to the Capitol or clown-woman trying to cheer her up with her nattering.  With Max’s expression of loss on her mind and Gaile’s sobs in her ears she left her home, her district, her family, and in all of them her heart thinking of how much she would give to have been right that very morning about it not being today.

 

* * *

 

 

There were four of them, statistically it was bound to happen that one of them would end up in the arena. But, the cold facts didn’t warm Gaile’s heart or ease her conscience. Emma was gone. There was no one to tell stupid stories to or play scrabble with or read books with. All there was is empty space where she would stand and make fun of Max or stroke her hair or even smile when she found something Carlos did funny. They must be sadists, she thinks, to be going on as they were without Emma and ignoring the elephant in the room.

When she came home that night, it wasn’t just an elephant in the room but a room full of Capitol soldiers searching her things and tearing up her room, holding her birth certificate up to the light while Max screamed bloody murder. “Get the fuck out of my house, you took Emma already what more do you want-” Vati took Max in his arms and held him, giving Dad a meaningful look.

“What are you trying to do here?” Daniel strode up to one of the men in padded suits, jabbing a finger at him. “Hate to kick you out but you are trespassing, mate.”

The Capitol drone held an official looking piece of paper as Fernando bound in, bundling Carlos and Gaile into a hug. “No” he eyed his two children with shame and sadness and utter pain and spoke “Oh Jesus-”

“We’re taking the girl.”

Carlos burst out of Fernando’s arms and tackled the man to the ground, attempting to pry the paper from his hands but two others managed to get him off. They picked him up like a sack kicking and screaming into Kimi who continued to glare at them distastefully. “You’re not taking my sister, I will fucking- Gaile, close your ears and your eyes. I’m going to fucking rip you piece by piece!”

Fernando’s arms tightened round Gaile as the Capitol soldiers surrounded them. “By order of birth, she has been reaped to represent District 4 – her surrogate mother’s district – in the 24th Annual Hunger Games.” They said, dodging all of Fernando’s attempts to hit them and pulling Gaile from his arms. “Come with us quietly and we will not hurt you.”

“Papa! Carlos!” she shouted, clutching at the walls as they dragged her out by the arm with a camera pointed at her. Kimi tried to hold her, a short hug was allowed before they started easing her out. “I love you, sweetheart. You’ll be fine. Find your sister-” he tried to comfort her but her tears continued to fall. On her way out the door, her hands reached out to clasp Sebastian’s but missed and instead held hands with Max. “Maxie-”

Her step-brother’s eyes were glossy with unshed tears but his voice was steady. “I’ll get you back.” He said. “Both of you.”

Gaile stared into his eyes and nodded, letting them take her away without a fight. With one last sad smile at Carlos, she stepped onto the train her sister had disappeared into.

 

* * *

 

 

Bernie Ecclestone had a pest problem, and the only way to deal with pests was extermination. But, when said pests were as influential as they were it required a bit more stealth. This was Bernie's livelihood. Pain. It was his ichor. And he wasn't going to allow a quartet of do-gooders to shake the boat.

"Two down" he signaled to his gamemaker and grinned at the screen, watching as Gaile Raikkonen-Alonso was taken away. "Two to go."


End file.
